Footage of the landing starts at 35:47, taken from nearby flying drone.
https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=35m47s
Absolutely surreal footage, a 25 storey rocket just drifts into shot at a crazy angle and plants itself.
https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=35m47s
Absolutely surreal footage, a 25 storey rocket just drifts into shot at a crazy angle and plants itself.
But otherwise: that was really fantastic.
Edit:
It's actually quite a sweet display of patriotism. I sound more negative than I mean to be. Perhaps it was just funny to realize that the context I'm most familiar with the sound of that chant is from reporting on the current campaign.
The chanting seems a bit over the top, especially for a private company mission to serve the International Space Station.
/s
(That doesn't mean it was particularly funny, though)
In a indirect way it did, (standing on the shoulders of giants, heritage of the people working there, etc,) however, unlike the other companies you mentioned, SpaceX only hires American citizens (because of government contracts and ITAR.) So it's basically an all-American effort.
There are quite a few foreign born American citizens working at SpaceX, myself included. You may find this shocking, but seeing as English wasn't our first language, some of us even have foreign accents.
I don't consider them, or myself, any less American.
I don't work directly with anyone like this but I know SpaceX has a few, not sure of the exact number, employees who are neither citizens nor permanent residents.
From what I've heard the process of getting a non-US person ITAR cleared is extremely costly, both in time and money and is thus used very sparingly.
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[1] I probably wouldn't think much of a USA chant during a Facebook or Google product launch. While these companies do plenty of wonderful things, I view space travel as several tiers of importance higher.
America gets bashed non-stop about pretty much everything, no matter what choices it makes or what direction it goes. The criticism is overwhelming sometimes, I get sick of browsing many sites like Reddit for example because of the extremely common US bashing. Quite frankly, I'll take the cheers and USA chants on this one.
1: Granted, that had some key foreign influence.
In this context it didn't phase me at all (I am a US citizen though...), but at a Google press event, it would be really unsettling.
I don't know, but the point is that I can see where you are coming from. I think that the "USA" thing has become "normalized" to me because of other things in the media (sports, wartime, etc...) that it doesn't phase me, but changing the wording makes it pretty clear.
Patriotism can have a hugely different emotional response depending on where you live. It can connote “home!” or “remember, we have weaponized drones hovering above your head”.
Imagine this video feed was from Iran, and ended in a patriotic arabic chant. Would you think, “it is good to see that they are Iranian and proud”?
It is not about being offended. It is about political undertone and tacit military implications.
(That said, I am proud, as a fellow human, of what was accomplished. Also, I live in a country pretty solidly allied with the US.)
This is almost a universally good thing, and having pride that your country was able to do it isn't a bad thing to me! I would fully expect another nations company to be chanting their nation's name, and I would probably join along with them if I were there!
It's a celebration, not a contest.
(side note, I was born and raised in the US, so my view might be tainted by that)
What space X did landing in the middle of the ocean on a tiny little platform, was nothing short of genius.
Way to go, anyone at SpaceX who's reading this.
As much as i despise patriotic displays, i still think they can offer great value as a lesser evil when even more dangerous group pride identities (e.g. religious or ethnic radicalization) are just waiting to fill the gap for those in need. Not only the american, but also the french or british group identities are much more accessible than for example german (much of national identity defined by difficult relationship with history, newcomers don't share that heritage) or belgian (much of national identity defined by being of either flemish or wallonian ethnicity, newcomers are neither).
We frown upon these things not because of what happened, we frown upon them because of what we don't want to happen again. The past might be long gone, but the future is always right around the corner.
Yes, it does. The country has a lot to do with it. Particularly our values, culture, etc. that enabled this to be possible here and nowhere else.
So is this: now make a list of all the other meaningful space programs and their budgets, it's a really short list. ESA is soon going to have a mere 1/4 the budget of NASA. The rest of the world outside of Russia and China should really be stepping up their space game.
- Arianespace
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- Antrix Corporation
- COSMOS international
- Eurockot Launch Services
- International Launch Services
- ISC Kosmotras
- Sea Launch
- Starsem
Yeah, really. Has a single one of them launched a rocket and then successfully landed it? No. That's why you're here, talking about Space X and AMERICA.
Not yet anyway.
This is a peacetime effort that is likely to improve all of mankind. If you want to criticize the celebratory reaction to killing someone then I will probably agree with you. This is something else. Pride in one's nation and it's achievements is not inherently shameful.
Do you believe that nationalistic displays are never appropriate? Why is it ok to celebrate your nation during World Cup but not after a significant technological achievement in peacetime?
At the same time I think most Europeans realize this doesn't apply in the US, yet many people's initial reaction would be one of (mild) discomfort. As a European living in the US (and loving the country and the people) I'm still often equal parts amazed and amused by the flag waving and USA chanting.
For many Europeans the American attitude towards the country and the flag looks a bit like a fetish. It's a piece of the Earth within a man-made line on a map, a piece of fabric designed by some guys. The important things are of course what this symbols stand for, freedom, the American dream, going to the Moon, helping to end World War II. But then again this is also only half of the truth or do you also think of slavery, racism or the millions of victims in US (supported) wars when you look at an US flag?
Similarly the obsession with the constitution looks a bit strange from here. »I can have guns, it's good to have guns, it's in the constitution!« It is just a piece of paper, a set of laws. Some guys thought that those would make good rules to run a society and so they wrote them down. But maybe they were wrong in some regards, a constitution is no eternal God-given truth.
It really makes a difference where you grow up and to what ideas you are exposed. For the better or the worse.
Here in the USA we seldom wave state flags or chant the names of states. Maybe in Texas I could see that happening. I do recommend being the Texas of Europe.
That tends to be the opposite goal of those nationalistic flag-wavers.
My first thought is, then what if people around the world started to care about spaceflight to the same degree they pay attention to the World Cup? But considering the broad geopolitical implications tied up in spaceflight and ballistic missile technology, this does become weird and problematic in just a few steps, doesn't it? Hopefully, from here on out, all of the jingoism will just be noise, and all of the major wars will be, at worst, cold.
Osama Bin Laden doesn't deserve any civil person's remorse. He helped orchestrate the murder of 3000 civilians. Give no pause to people who have absolutely no respect for the civilized world and cannot be reasoned with. The world will not have peace as long as religious extremists exist. Osama Bin Laden's existence would have only brought more senseless violence.
Fly a German flag from a pole in your front yard. Really! People here in the USA do it sometimes. (or go European, or both if you want to treat Germany like Americans treat states)
Find something good in the news and celebrate it. I checked the news today. OK, maybe today isn't a great day for Germany, because the best I found was this: http://www.thelocal.de/20160309/firemen-free-mens-penis-from... Uh, well, it's something. Celebrate it. Germany! Germany! Germany!
Be sure to also check the French and Russian news in case a bit of Schadenfreude is called for. When you find something suitable, wave your flag and say: Germany! Germany! Germany!
Also, it would probably be worse to have official communication policy restricting what people could chant on livestreams.
Maybe we should get one, but for now, that's it.
This makes me always see the advancement of SpaceX advancement of humanity, not just a single country.
But judging from the U-S-A chanting, not everyone at SpaceX thinks this way.
I'm pretty unpatriotic, but I still recognize that people can be patriotic and aim for the advancement of all humanity.
I can certainly understand how those from other countries, particularly Europe, might view the USA chants as over the top nationalism, but I think it's a stretch to assume that those taking part in it somehow view today’s accomplishments as solely the purview of Americans.
I was born in Eastern Europe and while I immigrated to the US at an early age, I have at times felt uncomfortable by the more visible aspects of American patriotism. Since it was brought up in a post above, I found the widespread celebrations of UBL’s death to be distasteful and jingoistic, and this is coming from someone who has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq multiple times. I too feel that it can, in certain contexts, come off as overly nationalistic. Context is, as usual, important though, and in this context I view the SpaceX USA chants as pretty harmless.
I also find the insinuation that the employees taking part in these chants are guilty of nationalistic fervor to be insulting. There are many employees here, myself included, who didn’t have the good grace to be born in the US but have nonetheless adopted America as our homes and are now allowed to work on some of the coolest space launch vehicles in existence. The fact that some might express themselves in this manner doesn’t bother me, even if it isn’t something I would do myself. I for one don’t partake in the USA chants, although this arguably has as much to do with my relatively low key personality as it does with a conscious choice to refrain from outward shows of patriotism. I’m the kind of person that would politely clap at a touchdown or slam dunk rather than yell and cheer. One of my supervisors however, a Canadian citizen and US permanent resident, has a much more boisterous personality than I do and always joins in these chants. I know one or two Brits here who do as well.
It’s also important to understand the atmosphere during these launches. SpaceX isn’t exactly the easiest place to work, I just finished a 58 hour work week ending in a 12 hour shift before launch, I was not alone in this regard. People are tired, stressed, and somewhat on edge. While the live feed featuring the employees may look staged or choreographed, I can assure you that their reactions aren’t. The moments after a successful launch are an incredible relief and you can feel the energy in the building. The excitement is infectious and if that boils over into chants of U-S-A then so be it.
I’m also not sure what could be done to prevent this from happening. Again, those from other countries might view these chants as strange, but they really are very innocuous here in the US. I don’t see it as overly nationalistic, but again, context is key. Even as someone who doesn’t actively take part in them, if we got word from above that these chants were no longer allowed or discouraged, I would be extraordinarily pissed. Employees are already sacrificing a lot for this mission, they don’t need their spontaneous celebrations micromanaged.
SpaceX is an American company, located within the borders of the US, staffed largely by US citizens or permanent residents, funded largely(exclusively?) by US taxpayers, investors and companies, relying primarily on a US educated workforce, and 60 years of American led R&D in space technology. If all of that culminates in a successful launch and first stage recovery on a freakin’ ship in the middle of the ocean, I for one, can certainly excuse the USA chants.
I hope that my post doesn't come across as overly defensive or sensitive, it has been a long week and I certainly may be guilty of being overly emotional, but it’s always somewhat disheartening to see a thread relating to a successful SpaceX mission turn into an admonishment of perceived American nationalism.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#/media/File:NAS...
Also, I liked the running commentary between the various reporters. It almost felt like a sporting event.
I'd guess the fuel is very nearly depleted at landing. This would put the center of mass somewhere fairly low on the stage, close to the engines which are dense, heavy things.
This means that the landed stage isn't as susceptible to toppling as it looks. At minimum, it would have to tilt so far that the CoM went beyond the line connecting the ends of two adjacent landing legs and tilt along a radius that crossed the midpoint of that line. Other tilt vectors would require more tilt to overturn the stage, based on CoM & landing leg geometry.
Wind loads could assist a tipover. The stage is ~12 feet diameter, it's really tall, it presents lots of sail area and it's pretty light at landing. Wind force would be a fun estimation to do.
They both have their "plans" on what to do, and the rocket basically is doing everything from what it can "see". There is no back-and-forth communication happening at all.
https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=27m20s
Awesome to watch.